The Scenery of the Dragon Ponds

In the Tianshan Mountains deeps, 140 kilometers to the north of Kucha city, there are two natural alp lakes pooled by thawed water of the snow on the mountains. They are called dragon ponds. The big pond has an area of 2.5 million square kilometers with an elevation of 2390 meters. The small one lies to the southwest of the big pond, 2,500 square kilometers in area and 2320 meters in elevation. The water of the big pond is infiltrated into the small one and then comes into falls flowing into river ways. The green jade lakes, snow-capped mountains circling at four sides, dark green spruce on mountainsides, dark green spruce on mountainsides, together with green grass in the valleys and flocks and herds grazing there, all compose beautiful scenery with special amenity. The Du (Dushanzi) – Ku (Kucha) highway passes by the ponds and extends into the Bayanbulak prairie through the tunnel on Tielimaili Daban and goes into Ili Prefecture.